Stanford men beat Oregon State 81-73

STANFORD -- The Stanford men's basketball team kept its momentum going on Sunday with an 81-73 home victory over Oregon State.

But it wasn't easy.

The Cardinal (14-8, 5-4 Pac-12), which has won four of its past five games, needed 14 3-pointers, as well as eight clutch free throws in the final minute, to hold off the Beavers (11-11, 1-8).

"We beat a good team ... throw records out the window," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "I guess that says a lot about our conference as a whole, just how much parity is there, from top to bottom."

Stanford is heading on the road to face Arizona on Wednesday. The Wildcats are tied for the Pac-12 lead with Oregon at 7-2. Stanford is tied for fifth in a bunched-up conference race.

"I think the biggest thing that we have learned from these past two games is how well we can play," said Stanford's Josh Huestis, referring to Wednesday's 76-52 victory over Oregon. "We've got to go into every single game like our backs are up against the wall."

Huestis, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds, made a couple of big plays in the final 90 seconds in front of 4,733 fans at Maples Pavilion. His pull-up jumper with 1:10 remaining gave the Cardinal a 73-69 lead, and 20 seconds later he had a key block.

Stanford shot 56 percent from 3-point range, which offset a 26-for-58 shooting performance overall. Chasson Randle was 4 of 6 from 3-point range and finished with a team-high 20 points. John Gage made three 3-pointers on his way to 12 points.

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"They fell for us. We can't rely on that though," Randle said. "We have to try to impose our will inside."

The Cardinal also kept close by keeping turnovers to a minimum -- it had only four.

Oregon State took a 66-65 lead with 4:38 remaining on a 3-pointer by Ahmad Starks. But Dwight Powell answered on Stanford's next possession with a 3-pointer and added another with 3:21 to go for a 71-66 Cardinal advantage. Powell scored 14 points.

Oregon State cut the deficit to two points with 1:44 remaining on a tip-in by Eric Moreland. But Huestis' basket with 1:10 to go started a 10-4 Cardinal run to end the game. Powell, Randle, Huestis and Gabriel Harris each sank two free throws in the final minute for Stanford.

"Our guys made plays. This wasn't your normal one where we make a couple mistakes down near the end (in a loss) ," Oregon State coach Craig Robinson said. "They (Stanford) came down and made shot after shot."

Stanford started 0 for 6 from the field and fell behind 8-0. But a 3-pointer by Randle ended the drought.

The Cardinal caught the Beavers at 17-17 on a dunk by Huestis, part of a 17-2 run that gave Stanford a 29-19 lead.